Erdogan: Türkiye to walk towards greater goals in its 2nd century

Türkiye with its 85 million people will march towards bigger goals in its second century, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, stressing the outcomes of the May 14 and May 28 polls have shown the Turkish people’s commitment to implementing the Century of Türkiye Vision.

“We will embrace the centennial of our republic on Oct. 29, 2023. We will celebrate it as 85 million people by leaving all our differences aside. We will start to sail towards new horizons altogether,” Erdoğan said in his address on the 161st anniversary of the Court of Accounts on May 31 in the Turkish capital, Hurriyet reports.

The centennial of the republic will mark a beginning for the implementation of the brand-new vision for the future of Türkiye, Erdoğan stressed. “This vision is called the Century of Türkiye. This covers a road map that will move Türkiye beyond the contemporary civilization. It will help our country to reach greater goals,” he said.

President Erdoğan said this vision will be implemented step-by-step. “We have taken the first step to this end through the May 14 parliamentary polls. And our people have shown that it supports the ‘Century of Türkiye’ vision through the May 28 presidential polls,” he said.

Erdoğan was reelected as the president in the May 28 runoff polls by securing 52 per cent of the votes against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the joint candidate of the oppositional alliance.

“The biggest winner of these polls has been our democracy which has long been facing unfair criticisms,” he said.

Another important outcome of these polls was the fact that the Turkish people gave a vote of confidence to the existing executive-presidential government model, the president said.

“These polls put an end to the discussion over returning to the old [parliamentary] system. With these polls, the era of coalition governments has gone forever. I hope that the results of the polls will be rightly read by all the politicians,” Erdoğan underlined.

Türkiye has no time to waste with empty talks and futile discussions, the president stressed, “We will surely take steps to make the presidential system function better. It will be institutionally empowered for the rise of Türkiye. While doing that, we will never harm our democratic achievements,” he said.

Türkiye will implement the Century of Türkiye vision with the participation of all state apparatus and government institutions, the president vowed.

In the meantime, Erdoğan convened the cabinet to bid farewell to the ministers. The next cabinet is expected to be announced on June 3 after Erdoğan takes oath at the parliament. The new ministers will have to take oath at the parliament before officially starting their job.